


History

by ExtraPenguin



Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Gen, Ghosts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-23
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-16 21:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8117992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExtraPenguin/pseuds/ExtraPenguin
Summary: Tej and Laisa's tea session is interrupted.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DesertVixen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/gifts).



After all of her siblings had decamped, Tej was all alone on strange Barrayar. Well, not _all_ alone, she had her husband, but he was a Barrayaran and thus prone to acting weirdly in all the same ways as the other Barrayarans. Since the Betan Vicereine was on Sergyar and would be for the foreseeable future, Ivan Xav had arranged for Tej to meet with the Empress for weekly tea, exasperatedly laughing at Barrayaran antics whilst their husbands did Man Things like napping (the Gregor) and avoiding further responsibilities (her Ivan Xav).

“How has your week been?” Laisa asked Tej after they’d been served tea with delectable pastries in an Imperial Residence room that breathed with history.

Tej pounced on a cream torte. “More society events than I can count,” she said after taking a not at all demure bite. “I fear for my digestive system. Lord Vorkosigan invited us over last evening, though, and it was very much worth it – have you _seen_ what his cook can do with bug butter, of all things?” She sighed wistfully.

“I’ve certainly _tasted_ it.” Laisa joined Tej in her sighing and sipped some tea. “I wish my schedule were as empty as yours. Charity lunches and dinners and occasionally breakfasts – and not all that much time spent with Gregor.”

The door opened. The Armsman jumped, and brought his hand to his stunner.

A woman gingerly peeked in, as if trying to conceal her body. She was dark-haired and pale by Galactic standards – perhaps even by Barrayaran ones – and looked almost fearful.

“Ah, excuse me,” she said. Her voice sounded very controlled. “Have you seen Drou anywhere?”

Tej was baffled, but apparently Laisa knew who Drou was, for she answered, “She’s at the Society Lunch for Disabled Soldiers at Voraronberg House.”

“Thank you,” the woman said. She gently closed the door behind her. Like her arrival, her departure was silent.

“Who was that?” Tej asked. The woman had looked vaguely familiar, but then again, all Barrayarans looked the same. Especially the Vor.

Laisa frowned. “She looked familiar. I know a few people she _can’t_ be, but that doesn’t really help much. Someone I’ve been introduced to, I think, since the encounter was rather brief. Vor, definitely.” She frowned in thought. “Armsman Sobol, did you recognize her?”

“No, Your Highness,” he said. He, too, sounded puzzled. Perhaps also concerned; security people were like that a lot of the time. “I could ask Harris to take the security feed and run her face through the database, if you’d like.”

“Yes, thank you,” Laisa said. “I hate it when people recognize me but I don’t recognize them,” she groused.

“Word,” Tej sighed. She consumed the rest of her torte.

Armsman Sobol whispered into his communicator, listened, grew concerned, did some more whispering and listening, then began to look wary. “Your Highness?”

Laisa frowned. “Yes, Armsman?”

“The, ah, woman didn’t seem to appear on any cameras, in the hallway or this room.” He looked troubled.

“Did she avoid the cameras?” Laisa asked. Her frown deepened.

“No.” Armsman Sobol swallowed. “One of the cameras in this room should’ve got a clear shot of her face, but … didn’t. Didn’t even see the door opening, though it caught you talking to her. Or towards where she should have been, at any rate. Didn’t show up on _any_ of the hall cameras, either, and she should’ve shown up on almost all of them.”

“A holographic projection?” Tej suggested.

Armsman Sobol shook his head. “Anything that realistic would show up on the cameras, and ping warnings elsewhere besides.” He looked to be on the brink of continuing, but chose not to.

The door opened again, and the Armsman had his stunner half-drawn by the time Ivan Xav smiled cheerily at them, significantly ahead of schedule. He stopped just inside the door, looked around, and said, “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“A woman just poked her head in to ask a quick question, but she didn’t show up on any cameras,” Tej said.

Armsman Sobol had been speaking into his comm. “I can confirm that the cameras are working; Lord Vorpatril shows up perfectly.”

Ivan Xav frowned. “I think we should go speak to General Allegre. He’s currently with Gregor; apparently some Greekies are revolting in Vorharopulos District. This isn’t a good time for unexplained equipment malfunctions.”

Tej rose to hold her beloved husband’s hand. Laisa rose, too, obviously hoping to emulate their example.

Their small party walked through the painting-lined wooden corridors whose walls were heavy with age. Sometimes Tej felt that she could sense the people who had lived here previously whisper just on the other side of the wall. She liked to let her eyes drift over the landscapes of places since changed and portraits of long-dead Vor, imagining them walking over the barren Barrayaran land or overseeing the new harvest.

Two portraits of Dorca Vorbarra (or a dead ringer) next to each other? Tej wondered who would be in the next portrait.

She stopped abruptly.

The woman in the next portrait was Barrayaran-pale, with night-black hair and a haunted expression. She had spoken to Tej less than twenty minutes prior.

Tej turned to meet Laisa’s eyes. She, too, had noticed. A glance at Armsman Sobol confirmed that he thought the woman who’d asked for Drou was the woman in the portrait, as well.

Tej looked back at the portrait. _Crown Princess Kareen Vorbarra_ , the plaque beneath it proclaimed. The Gregor’s mother, if Tej remembered correctly.

Ivan Xav looked at each of them in turn and then the portrait, utterly baffled. “Ah-”

“We appear to have a doppelgänger of Princess Kareen,” Armsman Sobol said, as if trying to convince himself.

“Well, General Allegre should still be notified,” Ivan Xav said, sounding very much in over his head, just like Tej felt.

They continued their trek in silence. The whispers of the walls suddenly sounded more real – and ominous.


End file.
